The Budget's Budget Bike
So here's the story of how this came along, and if you actually stick with this story, well...kudos.
I'm a disabled 31M, after a serious work accident a few years ago. I had a 8,000lbs trench box fall onto my steel toe boot. It wasn't pretty but I got to keep all my toes for the first couple of years...until they finally loped off my second toe 😬 I went through about 4 years of surgeries and different forms of physical therapys just to learn to walk again. Which then developed into a fun disease called CRPS which causes a lot of unnecessary and uncomfortable pain & didnt allow me to do much until I got my spinal cord stimulator. So with all that, I have to much time on my hands & not enough physical activity so I figured bicycling was a good way to get my body moving. Me being unsure of my capabilities riding a bike in the first place, obviously didn't want to sink a car loan into one of these new bikes on the market. So I did what any logical person would do, I searched through Market Place for a couple weeks but just couldn't commit. Well a week or two later I saw my neighbor down the road getting rid of an old bike of theirs. No shame I guess...what's the harm? It looked like it was used up until that point & if it works, well it's a damn free bike!
& You know what?! It didn't work worth a daaaaaamn. I mean the 3x7 system didn't shift in all but maybe 3 gears, the rear vpads were absolutely bare, all the cables fraying, shifters not engaging properly. You know name it.. this bike couldn't do it. But..I like free.. and I love tinkering so here's what I came up with.
*Free Kent Genesis
*Front derailleur delete - $0
*New Chain - $10
*Hycline Bb - $20
*Bucklos 32T Single crank - $50
*Hycline 14-34T 7 speed freewheel - $14
*Rockbros metal pedals - $25
*Rockbros saddle - $20 (sucks big ass; need something different preferably a dropper eventually)
* Shimano SL shifter - $15
*Origin8 35mm stem - $49 (not on yet)
*Tools - $25
When I ordered everything I second guessed myself a bit lol, but that YouTube algorithm stayed strong and I learned a lot about replacing the different parts, not much besides the fork and tires I haven't touched yet and those are both on my list very soon I think! Overall I'm definitely having a lot of fun, and pushing myself to get more active despite being disabled. I had a good bit a pride the other day after a 4 mile single track trail.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk & ride safe y'all ❤️🤙